Mike Tyson offers Anthony Joshua advice ahead of Oleksandr Usyk rematch

Oleksandr Usyk's rapid jab, in Mike Tyson's opinion, will make the difference in his rematch with Anthony Joshua on Saturday night.

Although the illustrious former heavyweight champion is a fan of Joshua, he knows he will have one of his toughest tests when he enters the ring one more to face the Ukrainian. He also suggests that the British fighter's success depends on applying pressure to Usyk and trying to prevent him from working behind his jab.

After dropping his world heavyweight belts to Usyk on September 25 of last year, Joshua is at a crossroads in his career. The fight takes place this weekend in Saudi Arabia. He has already humiliatingly lost his belts to Andy Ruiz Jr. in the summer of 2019, and if he loses in Jeddah, he may have a difficult time climbing back to the top.

Although Tyson thinks it will be challenging for Joshua to reclaim his victory, he can do it with the appropriate adjustments from the first bout. During an Instagram Live chat with TV personality and boxing enthusiast Mario Lopez, Tyson claimed of Usyk that "it's going to be hard to beat him." “It’s going to be hard to beat Usyk because he’s fast and he out-punches you with his jab.

“Joshua needs to learn to get away from his jab because that’s the one thing he couldn’t handle – his jab and his movement, he was too fast for Joshua. So Joshua has to put a lot of pressure on him and keep that going all night. He’s a powerful puncher but he’s got to be active against a guy like that. He moves too much, his jab is educated and [Joshua needs to] just outsmart the guy.”

During their first meeting, the Brit attempted to box with Usyk, who is famously one of the best technicians in the sport. He was comfortably beaten on the judges’ scorecards as a result, and has since changed up his camp by swapping head coach Rob McCracken for the legendary American Robert Garcia.